Raveled

The maroon sorcerer squirmed helplessly in the witch's telekinetic grip. "I don't need your help," he spat. "I don't need anyone's help! I wield the power of the Prime Elements! The world is mine for the taking." There was a flash of light and Equinox's summoned fist was gripping air. The sorcerer reappeared at the end of the hallway, staff raised in triumph. "You can't stop me, hero," he crowed. "I'll have my vengeance!" With that he turned and sprinted up the stairs as fast as his stocky legs could carry him.

As Ironclad rose about the crowd she caught sight of the two canines, monsters bigger than any dog or wolf she'd ever heard about, bigger than she thought it was possible for dogs to get. Once at a good height she leveled out her climb and took a quick survey of the fighting area; she noted the two concession stands, mostly torn to shreds by the beasts, and the civilians cowering beneath the wreckage. She also noticed the other forms pushing their way against the flow of the crowds, towards the commotion. More superheroes, no doubt. The armored heroine wasn't about to turn down the help.

Clad's Ini Ini for dog-beast fight. (1d20+3=8) <.< >.> She's assessing the situation! It's volatile! Don't want to go in before things are assessed properly.

Arcturus is Claremont? Huhn. Really though, I was hoping for a couple refs to run faculty to welcome him there; if that doesn't pan out in a couple days, though, we could work something else out.

Hm. Well, far be it for me to disregard the advice of a ref. What if the Foundry found some ship of refugees fleeing the Terminus and Omega and 'protected' them in exchange for the secrets to their technology? They're looting the Carrier when the heroes are alerted (still have to work out how that'll work) and come crashing down on their operation. The good guys could face the entire Foundry crew, Keres backed up by Charibdrones and a whole passel of ECHIDNA's drones, and then a big climax fight with the man himself. Would leave the Carrier a wreck, a shadow of its former self, and needing extensive repairs. Would also justify the Personnel feature, if the remaining refugees don't want to leave their home.

Now that my Claremont character is approved, I need folks to welcome him to the city! Who's willing to help the little hellion (our apologies to any actual hellions in the audience) fit in?

Bloody hellfire. Well, that's a quick fix.

Jessica forced herself to look at the mutated brain again, and then focused beyond it to see her friend, still visored. She always thought of Dragonfly being so calm and analytical, but how could anyone remain calm when looking at that? Maybe there was another layer to the whole situation -- but now wasn't the time to go into it. "I'm not talking about putting a computer in my brain," she said. "I'm talking about making some modifications to my nervous system, modifications that I need to make in order to remain... to remain relevant." She had been about to say 'competitive,' but she was sure that would send the wrong message. "I know how dangerous this could be -- that's why I called you, Dragonfly. To ask for your help with this."

So, surprisingly, there doesn't seem to be a lot of interest for a tech/:science: based group. Perhaps if I talk a little bit about my plans? For the first, "bring the group together" adventure, I was planning to draw upon Omega and the Terminus. Essentially the heroes will become (independently) aware that Omega intends to drag Earth wholly into the Terminus, and decide (as heroes do) to stop them. They'll fight a whole butt-load of New God expies who will essentially be Omega's lieutenants coordinating the whole thing, and the final fight will take place on a Carrier expy. The heroes will, of course, defeat the bad guys and capture the ship, and decide that they need to form a team to watch out for threats like this. Hm. Now that I think about it, it's turning less 'tech' and more 'dimensional wardens.'

Jessica stared at the displayed brain for a long minute, then turned her face away from it, squeezing her eyes shut. She wasn't a doctor or any kind of biologist, but she knew enough about the human body to know that the organ displayed wasn't normal by any stretch of the imagination. More than that, though, it was wrong on a fundamental level, offending every law of symmetry and bothering the inventor on a bone-deep level. For someone whose life was devoted to making things right, to making them work, seeing evidence of such hideous malformation was nearly painful. "Dragonfly, what in the name of God is that thing? And can you take it off the screen, please?"

Jessica was silent for a long minute, and when she spoke she didn't sound cheery or even confrontational. She sounded tired. "It is necessary." She turned away from the display and started pacing her office, suddenly full of nervous energy. "I'm reaching the physical limitations of what I can do with mundane materials. Miss A's been helping me trim the code, but it's not enough. Processing happens faster in my suit than in most supercomputers, and half the time it's just not damn fast enough." She reached the wall of her office and lashed out suddenly, drawing blood where she struck. "I need to find some way to increase capacity, increase speed, and this is the only route open to me." She leaned against the wall, almost sagging, her fist still pressed up to the drywall. "Please, Mara. I don't have any one else to talk to about this."

Jessica was, frankly, shocked at her friend's reaction. "This is insane? Dragonfly, suiting up and going after folks who can spit bullets is insane, this just ups my chance of coming out of that encounter alive. And as far as my body rejecting all this, I'm not doing it on a whim. I've researched this, I know what I'm doing." She reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose. "I can't believe that you're telling me that I'm going too far with an invention."

Jessica was put off her spiel and took a second to respond to her friend's question. "Well, yes. It's the next logical step with the armor." She pulled up tables of data and rotated them to show Dragonfly. "Look, it'll increase data transmission by at least two hundred percent, and it makes the suit almost uncrackable; it'll be impossible for anyone who doesn't have this system to use it." Another swipe brought the skeleton back, this time with the studs in place; they'd go parallel to the spinal column twelve in total, held in place by a large metal plate which was, itself, clamped to the vertebrae. "I've checked all the stresses and materials used. It's physically quite safe." Jessica studied her friend's face (what was visible of it) in the communication screen. "You... you don't think this is a good idea?"

Player Name: Raveled Character Name: Blue Jay Power Level: 10 (150/150PP) Trade-Offs: +5 Att/-5 DC with Bow & Quiver Unspent Power Points: 0 Progress To Bronze Status: 0/30 In Brief: A refugee from the Terminus, fighting for a beautiful world as hard as she can. Alternate Identities: Antoinette Baudin, 'Tona' Identity: Secret Birthplace: Maine, North America, Earth-Pastoral (Terminus) Occupation: Student, superhero Affiliations: Claremont Academy Family: Jean Blackfoot, aka Lady Liberty, aka Dame Vengence (mother, deceased), Robert Baudin, aka Jail Bird (father) Description: Age: 16? (DoB: ) Gender: Female Ethnicity: French/Native American Height: 5' 2" Weight: 120 lbs Eyes: Blue-green Hair: Brown Antoinette Baudin is a short, compact woman with a lithe, muscular frame. Her skin is smooth and tanned, and her chocolate-brown hair grows down to her shoulders, curling just at the ends. Her face is round and pleasant, with a small nose, full lips and big ears; most eye-catching, though, are the numerous piercings that adorn her lips, ears, and chin. She normally wears urban camouflage: monochromatic athletic tees devoid of logo or phrases, and pants bearing many, many pockets. When trouble threatens she pulls on a sleeveless Claremont uniform, complete with domino mask and gloves that leave her thumb bare. Her bow is a matte-black length of carbon fiber, balanced blackened-steel pulleys, and monofilament drawstring. It can fold to a third of its overall length or unfold with a quick jerk. Power Descriptions: Blue Jay has no actual superpowers. Her equipment is a wonder of modern engineering courtesy of ASTRO Labs. Her costume provides more protection than modern mil-spec body armor while breathing like Egyptian cotton. Her bow is a length of carbon fiber composite with an artificial spidersilk drawstring that can fold down to a third of its overall length for concealment, but fully deployed it can maintain a seventy-pound draw. The arrowheads can deploy bodkins, broadheads, blunt tips, or frog-catchers as needed, all selectable from a dial near the fletching. She even has a few specialty arrowheads for when she needs to do more than hurt people. History: Antoinette Baudin does not come from a happy world. Her home used to be verdant and green, an Earth where the Industrial Revolution had faltered at the first steps and as such humanity's spread and depletion of the planet's natural resources happened much more slowly. Of course, it also meant that when the Terminus came the heroes of the world had even less of a chance than most. Many of the planet's protectors died in the first wave; its Lady Liberty eventually rallied the survivors and lead them to retreat into the hinterlands and wilderness, where the Omegadrones' scanners were scrambled by the strange properties of the planet's native flora. For years she led a guerrilla resistance against the occupying forces of the Terminus, even as the world was dragged into the Terminus and made one of the Hundred Worlds. Unending, grueling war changed Lady Liberty, made her darker and harder, transmuted her to Dame Vengeance. The only solace she found was in the arms of a former escape artist and thief turned sniper and assassin, Jail Bird. In time they had a child, naming her Antoinette and teaching her the skills she needed to survive on the run, an heir to an endless, hopeless conflict. In time Dame Vengeance was overwhelmed, leaving it to Jail Bird, Antoinette, and a few determined rebels to stop Omega from stripping their world of the last of its beauty and resources. It all came down to a final, climactic, likely suicidal battle. They would never have succeeded... if their world had not swung to the outermost part of its orbit around Nihlor, prompting the Furions to join in the fray. In the end the largest processing plant on their world was destroyed and tens of thousand proles were liberated. Some of the Furions elected to stay on the planet as it swung out in its orbit again, and Antoinette stayed in the shadow of the Silver Tree. She wasn't to remain there for very long, though. The Furions contacted the only people they knew who had stood against Omega successfully and the Freedom League took Antoinette to Earth. She was quickly enrolled in Claremont Academy and now has the chance to prove how effective her parents' training was in a different kind of war. Personality & Motivation: Antoinette is a driven, boisterous woman, given to action and energy. She can come across as ten pounds of energy in a five pound bag, always moving and eager to be doing rather than waiting. When bad luck strikes, she very publicly tries to push past her misfortune without letting it drag her down, but secretly she has a sniper's perfectionist nature and can obsess over failures to an unhealthy degree. Those who get to know Tona may realize that her energy can get desperate, even manic at times. She has lived her entire life under the specter of imminent, bloody death, and she still believes in squeezing every last drop of enjoyment from a day because tomorrow she may die. This also means she doesn't always fully consider the consequences of her actions. Tona fights evil because that's the only life she's ever known; tracking, hiding, and sniping at foes is literally her entire existence, and she can't set it aside anymore than she can give up breathing or exercising. While she tries to maintain a cheery disposition even in battle, secretly she's scared of not living up to her own notion of this world's heroes: she knows they've fought (and slain!) Omega, and while Tona has had great success sniping Omegadrones from afar she doesn't know yet if she can measure up. This can lead her to get reckless if a fight's going against her, as she fears nothing more than failing at her life's work. Powers & Tactics: Blue Jay knows she can't really stand toe-to-toe with most superopponents and doesn't try to. Her style is to stay in cover and stay at range, peppering her target with arrows from as far away as she can manage. If she has to, she'll retreat and hide, waiting for her opponent to break off the fight, and track them until the terrain favors her again. A favorite tactic is to pin a tough opponent down with a glue arrow and either open up with full Power Attack, or hit them with a couple acid arrows. Complications: Secret Identity Tona strives to keep her life separate from her actions as Blue Jay. Hatred Tona hates the Terminus like only one who has lived there can. Nature Lover Tona grew up in much more natural surroundings and doesn't always understand modern technology. Ammunition Without arrows, Blue Jay's bow is useless. While she tries to make sure she always has enough on hand, in an extended fight she could run out. Abilities: 6 + 14 + 6 + 2 + 4 + 0 = 32PP Strength: 16 (+3) Dexterity: 24 (+7) Constitution: 16 (+3) Intelligence: 12 (+1) Wisdom: 14 (+2) Charisma: 10 (+0) Combat: 10 + 12 = 22PP Initiative: +15 Attack: +9 melee, +5 ranged, +15 bows Grapple: +12 Defense: +10 (+6 Base, +4 Dodge Focus), +3 Flat-Footed Knockback: -5/-2/-4 or -1 flat-footed Saving Throws: 4 + 4 + 5 = 13PP Toughness: +10/+5/+8 or +3 flat-footed (+3 Con, 5 Protection, +2 Defensive Roll) Fortitude: +7 (+3 Con, +4) Reflex: +11 (+7 Dex, +4) Will: +7 (+2 Wis, +5) Skills: 112R = 28PP Acrobatics 8 (+15)Skill Mastery Climb 12 (+15)Skill Mastery Concentration 5 (+7) Craft (Mechanical) 4 (+5) Disable Device 9 (+10) Escape Artist 8 (+15) Knowledge (Life Sciences) 4 (+5) Languages 2 (Algonquin, French [Native], English) Medicine 8 (+10) Notice 13 (+15)Skill Mastery Sense Motive 13 (+15) Stealth 13 (+20)Skill Mastery Survival 13 (+15) Feats: 33PP Acrobatic Bluff Attack Focus (Melee) 4 Attack Specialization (Bows) 5 Challenge 2 (Accelerated Climb, Fast Acrobatic Bluff) Defensive Roll Dodge Focus 4 Evasion Equipment 0 (+1 Bronze Reward) Hide in Plain Sight Improved Crit 2 (bows) Improved Initiative 2 Improvised Tools Luck Move-By Action Power Attack Skill Mastery (Acrobatics, Climb, Notice, Stealth) Takedown Attack Track 3 [full speed/visual] Uncanny Dodge (auditory) Commlink [1EP] Strike 2 (Extra: Mighty, Subtle [Collapsible]) [4EP] (Baton) Powers: 4 + 17 + 1 = 22 PP Device 1 (5 PP, Hard to Lose) [4PP] (Costume) Protection 5 [5PP] Device 4 (20 PP, Hard to Lose, Feat: Subtle [Collapsible]) [17PP] (Bow & Quiver) Bow Array 7.5 (15 PP, Feat: Alternate Power 4, Improved Range 1 [1 000 ft]) [20PP] BE: Blast 2 (Extra: Autofire [5], Feat: Improved Range 1 [stacks for 2, 2 500 ft], Mighty 3, Ranged Disarm, Variable Descriptor [slashing, Piercing, Bludgeoning]) (Arrow Flurry) AP: Blast 2 (Extra: Area/Shapeable [Targeted] Feat: Improved Range 1 [stacks for 2, 2 500 ft], Mighty 3, Ranged Disarm, Variable Descriptor [slashing, Piercing, Bludgeoning]) (Arrow Against the Crowd) AP: Drain Toughness 5 (Extra: Range/Ranged) (Acid Arrow) AP: Snare 5 (Glue Arrow) AP: Leaping 1 (x2, Move action, Extra: Linked [+0] [speed], Linked [+0] Super-Movement) + Speed 1 (10 MPH, Extra: Linked [+0] [Leaping], Linked [+0] [super-Movement]) + Super-Movement 2 (Slow Fall, Swinging, Extra: Linked [+0] [Leaping], Linked [+0] [speed]) (Magnetic Grapple Arrow) Feature 1 (Temporal Inertia) [1PP] Drawbacks: 0 = 0PP DC Block: ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Unarmed Touch DC 18 Toughness (Staged) Damage (Physical) Arrow Flurry Ranged DC 20 Toughness + Autofire (Staged) Damage (Physical) Arrow Against the Crowd Ranged/Area (Shapeable) DC 20 Toughness (Staged) Damage (Physical) Acid Arrow Ranged DC 15 Fortitude Drain Toughness Glue Arrow Ranged DC 15 Reflex Ensnared Baton Melee/Thrown DC 20 Toughness (Staged) Damage (Physical) Abilities (32) + Combat (22) + Saving Throws (13) + Skills (28) + Feats (33) + Powers (22) - Drawbacks (0) = 150/150 Power Points :arrow: Behold my take on a Terminus refugee. Okay, the vast majority (read: all) of the mechanics were cribbed from AA's Mockingjay build. I'm not much of a Hunger Games fan, but after seeing Avengers I was on a Hawkeye/archer tick and wanted to try my hand at it. :arrow: Differences in the Oddball and this build: Tweaking of the feats to make the character less of a hunter, more of an assassin (but that's not what she does now!). Also lost the Super-Senses mask, since this character is supposed to be from a less technologically-advanced civilization. :arrow: Of interest is the bow: rather than using straight Blast (which would allow anyone who grabbed it to fire it at full strength) I went for Blast with the Mighty feat. I feel that better models how a bow works in the real world: if you can pull the bowstring back at all, you'll get some damage out of it. But a strong person can get more out of the weapon -- to a certain degree. :arrow: I pondered making the character a quiet, depressed, borderline PTSD person, but I didn't want to create a carbon copy of early Wander. So I went for the opposite direction, someone with almost manic energy.

Just a Bruise. Or did you want a description in the IC?

The white bands of force spun through the air and wrapped around the sorcerer, pinning his arms and the staff to his side. He teetered for a moment, then overbalanced and fell to the ground, air escaping him in a little whuff. He struggled against the chains, but there was no way he could overcome Equinox's magic physically. "This can't be happening," he screamed. "I am almighty! I am ever-powerful! I wield the Primordial Powers! And I will not be hogtied by some b^@!" There was a flash of blinding red light, and power surged back through the chains into Equinox. The heroine felt it coming, a moment before the great psychic weight smashed into her mind. When the light cleared, the sorcerer was standing upright, the bonds of force gone and the staff clenched tight in one hand.

Reflex save 1d20+2=5 Bwahaha. Okay, now do I want to end it here or stunt something? Hm.... Okay, stunting something. Equinox gets a HP and she has to make a DC 25 Will save. Snare is negated.

School starts up again this Monday, Jan 10th. No way of knowing how busy it'll be until I'm there, so we'll just see how it goes. If I disappear next week though, you'll know why.

Jessica blinked at the question and shrugged lightly, swiping her hand through a menu option. The skeleton was replaced with a full-size view of her Ironclad armor, slowly rotating in the air. With another gesture from its inventor the armor exploded in all directions, metal plates separating and hanging in the air to let the viewer examine the inner workings. Underneath the armor there was some sort of bodystocking, a dark layer of padding interwoven with what looked for all the world like an integrated circuit. Jessica pointed at the work, stepping through the holographic plates until her finger was just touching the bodystocking. "That," she said. "I'm replacing that." She grabbed part of the backplate out of midair, turning it and manipulating it as if it was real. The outside was the normal segmented armor section Dragonfly was used to seeing; underneath was a mass of contact points that very obviously corresponded to points on the integrated circuit/bodysuit. Jessica brought up a menu and swiped through a command, and the inner section of the armor shifted slightly, the multiple contact points replaced with a series of them running parallel to the spine. There were twelve such contact points, and Jessica brought another instance of the spike in. She brought the two together and showed how they fitted together; then she set the backplate in the air and stepped into it. "Like this," she said, skin in contact with the hologram, the spike underneath her skin and just to the left of her spine. "The problem I'm getting is one of too little feedback. The spikes transmit the data to the suit just fine, but I'm having trouble with the data going in the other direction. The suit is supposed to dull whatever's coming in, so I don't feel the full brunt when someone unleashes a flamethrower or something. But right now the suit is giving almost no tactile data back."

AoE Trip is next. Give me a few saves here; Reflex DC 22 for half, and then DC 22/11 Dexterity/Acrobatics. If she fails, she suffers full Knockback.

Toooo late.

Jessica didn't blink at seeing her friend casually break the laws of physics like that. "Dragonfly! I hope I'm not interrupting something vital, but I need some help on a project I'm working on." She swiped through several more menus before bringing up a simple inverted cone, rounded point looking at the ceiling. It was somewhat smaller than either woman's finger joint; Jessica zoomed in the piece, showing it covered in tiny studs and rounded protrusions, some of them no more than the bare end of a wire. "I figure you know more about machine/mind interface than almost anyone," she said, "so I was hoping you'd have some insight into this." She touched a command and a human skeleton, the same height as Jessica herself, was hanging in the air. "I'm trying to tie this into a human nervous system, but I'm running into feedback issues."

The staff wielder eyed Equinox warily, then took a step back and spun his staff around to point at her. "You can't really expect me to just hand this sort of power over, can you? You must be some kind of fool if you really thought that would work!" There was a swift build-up of power along the length of the staff, and then a sudden roiling ball of orange-red light burst from the end of it and streaked towards the heroine. It missed he by a handsbreath though, digging a long furrow into the large bricks of the wall. The sorcerer looked shocked for a moment, but he recovered quickly enough and struck the staff on the ground again. A slow wave moved through the earth, ripping up the tiled floor and moving swiftly towards the heroine. In moments it had grown to her shin-level, and it was still rising!

Open negotiations with an attack! Opening Blast against Equinox. (1d20+6=8) Well, not like that had any chance of hitting. This is a Kenson build you know. Initiative time! Though is it really necessary when there's only two folks? Ini for combat. (1d20+0=12) Not bad.

January 7th, 2011 The Lab was a thing of beauty, almost a work of art. Quite apart from the technical/architectural details, every part of it was designed, from the ground up, to allow easy communication between all scientists working there. It was an accepted fact that great works came from multiple disciplines interacting, and to that end each office was wired with full holographic reception/projection systems, to better allow the various folks who worked there to share ideas. To that end Jessica Parker swiped and puzzled her way through menus, until eventually she found the command she wanted. Three levels away and a third of a turn around the glass egg, Dragonfly's own communication suite began to buzz and pulse.